The Leader's Pain
by mileradontmnt
Summary: Leo's frustrated with Raph, and leaves the lair only to run into trouble. Completed. I don't own TMNT.


The Leader's Pain

 **Leo's POV**

I sighed loudly as I plopped into the blue bean bag, and turned my gaze to the blank t.v screen. Sinking down low, I tried to let everything that had happened that day wash over me. It's not as easy as it sounds. My mind was running a marathon, and wasn't about to take a break. I was so frustrated and angry with Raph, I could barely concentrate; this was the main reason I couldn't relax. I was fed up with him. He's rude, disobeys my every order, he thinks I'm wrong all the time, and he turns the team against me. I wish I could just, just punch some sense into him, but, I'm sick of fighting. We've been fighting for nearly a week now, and I'm tired of it.

Laying my head back, I closed my eyes and took a couple deep breaths. "Everything going to be okay…" I whispered softly to myself as I tried to loosen my muscles. As much as I love being leader, a part of me wishes I hadn't asked for this. It was hard, painful, stressful, frustrating, and extremely challenging.

"What are you doing Leo? Get off your shell." I heard Raph growl out from above me, and I opened my eyes to fix him with a hard glare. He has no idea what I go through.

"We have canisters out there, and all you're doing is sitting on your lazy butt." Raph hissed out at me while clenching his fists. I could sense another fight coming on, and I seriously didn't have the energy for it. I've been going nonstop for days, protecting him, protecting Mikey and Donnie, trying to gather the lost canisters of mutagen, and still trying to take care of myself. Is there ever a time where I can just lay back and relax? I guess according to Raph there's not.

"Look Raph…"

"Don't 'look Raph' me, Leo. You need to do more than just sit around." He barked as his eyes narrowed dangerously. I could feel something inside of me stir. A monster was eating away my wish to not fight anymore, and was replacing it with burning hot anger. He really thinks I just sit here, all day long, every day?

"I do, do more than just sit here." I growled, feeling more sick of him by the second, "Everyday I have to deal with your mouth and your rock-filled brain."

"Don't." He seethed out with his knuckles turning white. Didn't he ask for a fight? I was sitting here, minding my own business, and he just came over and started stabbing me with words. I'm so fed up with him!

Standing up, I turned to the turnstiles, and began to walk towards them.

"Oh! Now you're leaving us? Some leader!" He grounded out through his teeth. I could feel myself shaking with rage. If I didn't get out of here fast, I was going to punch Raph so hard his face wouldn't be recognizable, and I couldn't let myself do that to him.

"Fine, go, Leo! Run away!" I heard Raph yell over my pounding head. I increased my speed, and fled down the subway tunnels before my anger had a chance to explode.

The wind was slightly chilly as I soared from building to building carelessly. I didn't care where I was going, I had to get away from those green eyes and that red mask. None of my other brothers give me as hard as a time as Raph does. Yeah, Mikey's a bit hard to handle when he doesn't listen, and Donnie's hard to understand when he talks nonstop about things I've never heard of, but Raph, I could complain for hours about every single thing he's done to hurt me, to annoy me, or to anger me. It's just not fair.

Skidding to a halt, I slowly walked over to the edge of a building, and plopped down. I pushed my hands against my sweaty forehead and pulled my face down in frustration. The red hot anger was still boiling inside of me. I wanted to yell, punch, or do anything to get the rage out. Instead I took a deep breath, and tried to push my feelings away. I don't need to feel this right now. I need to calm down.

"Easy Leo." I whispered as I tried to loosen my hands, but it was a lot harder than I thought it would be.

Letting out a breath, I tilted my head to stare at the cars as they honked and screeched down below. On the sidewalk was a couple small families sitting on a bench, waiting for the bus that would take them away. Nearby, I could see two little boys chasing after each other while the mother turned her head to watch them. I was reminded of how Raph and I use to play when we were tots. Now that we're older, we don't play those kind of games anymore. We don't play any games together. All we do is yell and fight.

Bowing my head, I closed my eyes. All we do, is yell and fight….

I've always known it. But I didn't like to think about it. Thinking about how we treat each other causes me to think that one day we could become enemies. We could end up hating each other so much, it could kill us both….

"Vell, vell, vell. Vat do ve 'ave 'ere?"

"I don't know Rocksteady, but it sure is ugly."

I opened my eyes and slowly turned to meet my guests with dislike printed all over my face.

"You got to be kiddin' me."

"Hmm, that wasn't what I was hoping to hear." Bebop, a mutant pig said to the large mutant rhino with a scowl forming on his hairy lips.

"Sorry for not giving you the grand welcoming you were hoping for." I growled out as I stood up carefully, and folded my arms squarely over my plastron. Honestly, can't I got for an hour without someone bothering me?

"How about we give this mutant scum a lesson on how to be polite?" Bebop asked as he took a step forward, with a nasty gleam in his eyes.

"Rocksteady agrees. Ve should teach turtle mutant to be polite."

I took a small breath. Again, they've got to be kidding me. But whatever I think or feel doesn't matter to them, so might as well get it over with.

I lifted up a hand to slide my Katana out of its case, then I held it in front of my body, and aimed it at the enemy. Shuffling my feet, I slowly moved into a fighting stance, and prepared myself for anything to come my way.

Rocksteady was the first to move. He charged towards me with his horns pointed at my neck, and his feet thumped loudly as he sprinted forward. I was too quick for him. It was easy to jump out of the way, but now it was Bebop's turn.

"Think you're so clever, ay, mutant turtle?" He scoffed as he turned to the side and began to shoot layers at me. Using my blade, I blocked off the flashing purple lights while making my way towards the edge of the building. I didn't have time to mess around with these losers.

More stomping had me turn to the left to see Rocksteady flying towards me. I was completely unaware of the layers until one made a mark in my lower right leg, causing a yell ripped its way out of my throat. This time I was unable to get out of Rocksteady's way as his hard body slammed into me, and his horn skimmed the top of my right shoulder. The impact caused me to fall backwards and crumpled to the ground in a moaning heap. No, I must not give up, especially to these idiots!

"Not so tough now." Bebop snickered as he walked towards me with a small triumphant grin.

"You wish." I hissed as I forced myself to stand up, and pull out the other Katana that was still in its case. I had lost my other weapon when I had lost my balance, but hopefully that didn't matter.

I gripped the Katana tightly as I moved to see both Rocksteady and Bebop. I wasn't about to make any more mistakes that would cause more damage to myself.

Suddenly, thudding joined in with the silence as a group of the Foot Clan landed in a large circle around me and my enemies. I growled as I sweeped an eye over what I had to deal with, and slowly began to back up to where I knew I could escape easily if it came to it.

"Not so confident now, are you ugly?" Bebop called out to me from the opposite side of the building.

"Da, 'e's all alone. No one ta save 'im." Rocksteady chimed in much to my annoyance.

"It would take a hundred more Foot soldiers and ten more idiots to bring me down." I told them with a little bit too much arrogance, but my words did the job nicely when their grins faded.

"We can always call over more to even out the score." Bebop hissed as he folded his hairy arms.

"I would love to, but you see, my brothers need me, so this crowd will do nicely for now." I said roughly as I turned my gaze to the nearest Foot-Bot, and immediately ran forth. The black ninja dropped to the ground in seconds, and then I quickly moved to the next that was running my way. Layers began to fly over my head as I took out another Foot soldier then another.

I had taken out five more before I ran towards Rocksteady, clutching my weapon carefully. As soon as I was in range, I swung my Katana at Rocksteady's chest, and hoped it was good enough to cause enough damage so I could leave without mutants following me home. But when I was inches from hitting the rhino, a large bullet flew into the metal blade, and then the next second I knew, my Katana was flying out from my fingers. My last weapon clattered against the roof top then slide a few feet before it disappeared to the bottom of the alley.

"No!" I cried as I stared in horror where I had last seen the shiny glint of metal. I quickly remembered the fight and turned to look back at the mutant rhino when a large grey fist smashed into my right temple, and I was on the ground again with stars flashing behind my eyes.

"You two finally did something useful." I heard above me, but it wasn't Rocksteady or Bebop who had said it.

"Oh…" I moaned as I pushed a hand to my temple and tried to blink away the lights. A hand wrapped around my shoulders, and I was pulled up off the ground to a stand.

"Master Shredder will be most pleased." Tiger Claw hissed, and I slowly lifted my gaze to see his yellow eyes gleam dangerously. A Foot soldier came towards me from the left and took a long rope and began to ring it around my wrists. Even though my head was pounding, I had to get away. I lifted a leg and kicked the ninja away, then I jumped up and back flipped to hit my capturer in the head. Luckily it was Bebop who instantly released me.

"No you fools!" Tiger Claw yelled as he drew out a large gun and began to fire rapidly at me. I say, it's very hard to fight when your hands are tied up, but it didn't matter. When I got closer to Tiger Claw, I aimed a high kick at his chest giving me advantage when he stumbled backwards. With the extra time, I hurried to the edge of the building and sprung to the next.

"Don't just stand there! Get him!" I heard the mutant tiger scream from behind me as I flew from building to building. I tried to shuffle the rope off, but it would not loosen, leaving my hands stuck.

From behind me, I could hear the charging footsteps of Rocksteady as he sprinted after my heels. I made an instant choice to take a detour, and quickly changed direction; being rewarded when I heard a yell from the rhino.

"Fools! Fools!" Tiger Claw yelled as he rocketed towards me on his rocket booster. When I saw his stripped face come into view, I turned and fled in the opposite direction.

"Whoo hoo!" Bebop called as he slid along a glowing purple line, and crossed into my path.

"Are you kidding me?" I cried as I halted to a stop. I had nowhere to go. Rocksteady was charging towards me from the right, Tiger Claw was flying towards me from the left, Bebop was hanging out in front of me, and about fifteen Foot-Bots were chasing me from behind.

"Hahaha, now we got you." Tiger Claw grounded out through his teeth as he aimed a gun at my left leg and pulled the trigger with a loud bang. Pain bolted through me, and I gave a loud yell before hitting into the cemented roof top for about the third time tonight. I hissed softly as I turned to look down at the wound, and silently hoped there was no bullet inside my leg.

Well, this was it. I was going to get captured and taken to the Shredder. There was no way out of this one.

I pressed my roped hands to the wound that was dripping blood, and tried to stop the heavy flow. Tiger Claw moved towards me, and grabbed the straps that were hanging on my right shoulder, and pulled me up.

"No more running." He hissed as he slide out a small dagger from his jacket, and pushed it into my neck. I could feel warm liquid gather where the blade was touching my skin, and I made sure not to move too much.

"Get away from my brother."

I turned my gaze to a three pointed weapon as it flew above my head, and then felt the grip of the claws on my straps loosen when the Sai meet its target. I saw a green fist fly through the air, and heard the grunt when Tiger Claw was hit. As the mutant stumbled backwards, the dagger sunk deep into my neck, causing me to cry out suddenly.

I fell onto my shell, and stared up at the smoke-filled sky as the moon shone brightly through it. Grunts and yells were heard around me as fighting took place from above. In the corner of my eyes, I could see the Foot Clan falling towards the ground, and making a loud thud when they meet the roof top.

"Get out of here!" I heard someone yell, and I gasped at the voice. How did he find me?

"Raph…?" I croaked as I turned my head carefully to see his fiery green eyes blazing angrily as he sent his Sai towards Tiger Claw. The mutant howled in pain as he stumbled, then with one last loathing look, he turned and sprung into the air. Bebop and Rocksteady must have cleared out, because the noise level was completely silent.

"Leo!" Raph called as he sprinted over to me, and dropped down by my side; "Oh gosh. Um, here." He pushed his right hand into my neck while pressing his other hand into my leg. I looked into his face and could see fear very clearly.

"You'll be okay." He whispered as he turned to look into my eyes, and that's when I realized he wasn't just afraid, he was terrified.

"I know…" I coughed as I lifted a hand to touch the wet fingers on my neck, "I know, because you're here with me."

"Don't talk like that! You're making me think you're about to die on me at any second!" He said as his eyes became more fearful.

"I'm not planning on dying." I told him as I tried to smile, but the pain in my neck kept me from doing so.

"I, I'm sorry Leo." He said quickly, "I'm sorry! I'm really, really sorry!"

"Raph!" I called over his apology, "It's okay!"

"No it's not! I was rude! I shouldn't have gotten after you. I, I was selfish." He said as he turned his head away in anger and shame. I sighed as I pushed myself up, and wrapped my arms around him before he could protest.

"It's okay. We're all just a little bit frustrated lately. And I forgive you. Especially since you saved me back there."

"Whatever…" He mumbled as he slowly put his arm around me, and sighed roughly.

"I'm sorry too." I said as I squeezed him tightly.

"Ya don't need to be." He mumbled gruffly as he let go, and brought his hand to cover my neck again.

"No. I am. I should listen to you. You're apart of this team too, and I need to remember that." I said as I turned to look at him even though my neck gave a bolt of pain. He didn't say anything as he stared at my wounded shoulder, but then after a couple seconds gave a humph.

"We should get you to Donnie." Raph said a minute later as he tried to pull back, but I still had my arms around him. Sighing, I let go, and watched as he stood up. Once he was standing, he held out a hand, which I gratefully took. With one arm around his neck, and his arm around my shell, we were able to start walking.

"You know what Raph?" I said as I looked over at his determined face with a small smirk.

"Huh?"

"I'm a pretty lucky turtle to have you for a brother."

"You what know I think, Leo?"

"What?"

"I think you got one too many hits to the head."

"Thanks Raph. Love you."

"Yeah… Me too… I, I mean, to you…"

And with that said, we were able to walk in peace and silence, side by side with the night over our heads.


End file.
